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by subb 1290 days ago
Maybe start by having a sustainable growth (or you know, no growth!) so you don't have to write a completely emotionless letter explaining why you have to lay off a whole village?
2 comments

Remember the CEO is also accountable to the board and investors who have certain expectations.

The morality here is hard because the end results are largely driven by the system. Sure, there are some leaders who are particularly ill-suited for their jobs from the employee POV. Unfortunately some of those leaders serve their investors quite well.

If you point one finger, you'll quickly realize you might need many more to follow the interconnected trail of power.

Also let's not forget that so much of Silicon Valley's advantageous job market is linked to investor behavior, good and bad. My point? Sure, criticize these feaux-emotional layoff letters, just don't forget to look back to see the reality distortion field already in place when you joined that job.

So what we need here is mechanisms to hold the board accountable for their failures.
Well, perception/observation bias. We never notice the companies that do grow sustainably and don't do layoffs.
You really think so? I've picked many places to work based on my perception of their business model stability and how they treat people. I'm far from perfect of course.

I think many employees and investors care about employee retention. I don't know how much it factors in, but it is something.

I meant "we" as on a news site like this, "Company Not Laying Off" will never make a headline. Yes, employees and good investors/owners do care.